Carmichaelia torulosa
Common names
Canterbury pink broom
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2023 | Threatened – Nationally Critical | Qualifiers: DPT, RF
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Simplified description
Rare small tree or large shrub with erect leafless twigs inhabiting inland Canterbury. Trunk very short. Twigs 1.2–2.5mm wide, rounded. Flowers lavender-pink with darker veins. Fruit a dry pod containing up to 15 hard seeds and which widens where a seed is present giving a distinctive horizontally ribbed appearance.
Flower colours
Red/Pink, Violet/Purple
Detailed description
Shrub or small tree up to 5 m tall. Trunk slender, brittle, usually branching close to base; branches slender, suberect to erect, leafless, initially red-green maturing grey to grey-green; branchlets numerous, suberect to erect, terete, dark green, 1.2–2.5 mm diameter. Inflorescences racemose, 1–(2) per node, up to c. 50 mm long, slender, 1–10 flowered, flowers not crowded. Peduncle and pedicels glabrate. Bud pale pink to lavender. Flowers up to 8 mm long, lavender-pink in central and proximal areas, purple-veined. Calyx glabrous except on the broad obtuse teeth; standard rather narrow. Pods c. 15–42 × 2 mm, subterete, strongly torulose; beak long, slender; seeds up to 15 per pod, Seeds reniform-elliptic to elliptic-oblong, up to 15 per pod, yellow-green, green, brown or orange-brown, marked or mottled with grey, dark purple-brown or black-brown 1.2–2.0 mm long.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from Carmichaelia carmichaeliae (Hook.f.) Heenan by the lavender-pink rather than pink flowers; seeds < 2.0 mm long, rather than > 2 mm long; strongly constricted rather than weakly constricted pods; and by its restriction to Canterbury.
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand: South Island (Canterbury—Amuri Range (North Canterbury) to Te Ngawai River (South Canterbury)).
Habitat
A plant of forest margins, especially riparian shrubland and low forest, and on rock bluffs. It has also been found within a wetland. Plants grow in a range of vegetation types from grassland and open shrubland to closed shrubland and low forest, though it is most commonly an emergent within open to dense shrubland.
Threats
Like most other New Zealand brooms this species is threatened by regeneration failure due to competition with the exotic grass swards; competition by exotic woody weeds such as gorse (Ulex europaeus L.) and Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link); damage associated with plantation management (e.g., through felling trees or planting into Canterbury pink broom sites); and from deliberate and accidental spraying through its confusion as a weed species, or by its association with target species.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Notospartium torulosum Kirk
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December–January
Fruiting
Throughout the year
Life cycle and dispersal
Seeds are possibly dispersed by wind and granivory (Thorsen et al., 2009).
Propagation technique
Easily grown from seed. Difficult from cuttings. A very attractive shrub that should be more widely cultivated.
Other information
Where To Buy
Not commercially available
Etymology
carmichaelia: After Carmichael, a botanist
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CARTOR
Chromosome number
2n = 32
Previous conservation statuses
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.
- Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2017 | Threatened – Nationally Critical | Qualifiers: RF
2012 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP, RF
2009 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP, RF
2004 | Range Restricted
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Thorsen MJ, Dickinson KJM, Seddon PJ. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2009.06.001.
Attribution
Description based on herbarium material held at AK.